Thank you for contacting the Seattle Police Department (SPD) regarding your concern and interest in complying with traffic laws associated with electric-assisted bicycles.
Enforcement of RCW’s 46.04.169 (Electric-assisted bicycle) and 46.04.071 (Bicycle) by law enforcement officers is dependent on officers’ judgments and observations. Officers do write citations for moving violations, including for speed limit overage, to bicycle operators. However, officers must have ‘reasonable suspicion’ to conduct a traffic stop rather than solely pulling over an electric-assisted bicycle operator to verify the motor’s wattage does not exceed 1000 watts or to test its ability to exceed 20 mph. In the event of a serious collision involving an electric-assisted bicycle, it would then be properly tested and investigated for the aforementioned requirements.
In general, operators of electric-assisted bicycles are advised to ride safely and within the parameters of traffic laws.
I hope this information is helpful to you. Should you need further assistance, please contact SPD Traffic Section at (206) 684-8722.
Apparently local police do not need to enforce federal law:http://www.x-tremescooters.com/techdocs/adobe/e-bicycle-fed-regulation.pdf
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